Record PFD Amid Record Budget Shortfall

Alaska will give each resident more than $2,000 next month as the annual payout from an oil wealth trust fund, a state revenue official said on Wednesday, a record amount despite the collapse in oil prices last year.

About 645,000 residents will receive the payout from The Alaska Permanent Fund, said Jerry Burnett, deputy commissioner for the Alaska Department of Revenue.

The payout will surpass the $1,884 doled out by the fund last year and exceed the record $2,069 paid in 2008, Burnett said. Payments began in 1982 with a $1,000 check to residents.

The payment to citizens is derived from a formula averaging the Permanent Fund earnings over a five-year period.

Global crude oil prices collapsed in late 2014 as global production exceeded demand, but the price of crude has less of an impact on the annual payments than how well the fund manages its $51 billion portfolio.

The fund benefited in 2014 from a surging stock market as well as real estate and private equity investments, Burnett said.